Who Is Tom Owczarzak?

It all started in Pittsburgh, PA. I was discovered on a dark and stormy night… Ok, don’t know if it was dark or stormy but I do know it was night. Grew up as a teenager in Pittsburgh in the 70’s and was a HUGE Pittsburgh Steelers fan. Moved away to go to school in Minnesota for something called Non-destructive Testing (NDT), which is testing of metals. It includes x-ray and ultrasonic’s (same thing doctors do on pregnant women) and dye check. I went to a 2 year college and got 2 good things there. First, certifications that allowed me to make money (always a good thing) and secondly I met my future wife Dawn there (helped me to spend money?).

After school in Minnesota, I traveled to different nuclear plants all over the country doing NDT. I even went to Sweden on a job at a nuclear plant. Now that’s the life, go overseas and someone else pays for it. In 1986, Dawn and I decided to try to settle down and raise a family. We looked for a permanent job and TVA called and invited us down to Alabama. In January of 1987 I took a full time job with TVA and that was the start of me being a damn Yankee (Yankee who won’t leave).

If you notice I have not mentioned computers here at all. I don’t think I even knew what a computer was until TVA. While I was working there, I met my first computer and it was love at first sight. I joined the Decatur Area PC User Group (DAPCUG) and remained very active in the group until it was disbanded. While in the group I served all officer positions including President for 5 years. During this time is where I learned to use and fix computers. My friends and I would always try to get the computers faster, get more memory out of them or try different programs. To give you some ideas of what I worked with: My first computer ($1500) could go from 4 MHz to 8 MHz with a push of a TURBO button: I was saving up to get 16 megs of ram (it cost $45.00 a meg) and I did not know that a computer could make a sound more than beep, beep. Yes, I am that old!

In 1997 TVA had a voluntary retirement offer. After great thought and deliberation with Dawn, it was decided that we were going to open a computer software and video game store called Media Maze in Decatur. My first love was computers, but at that time in Decatur there were a lot of computer stores around, all trying to cash in on the Y2K scare. In 1998 Avanti Computers was put up for sale and after some discussions (where are we going to get the money for that) we decided to enter into to the computer rat race. Dawn and I work feverishly to get the Avanti name well know and well respected again. In 2001 we purchased Pruitt Office Machines. Dawn keeps telling me if I can’t be better then the competition then I’ll just buy them out. Not true, not true.

Both purchases had its plusses and minuses, but we worked thru them and learned from each of them. Dawn and I decided that we needed to do a few things to make the business work. Some of them included:

1. Be nice to people. To many times computer people talk down to customers.
2. Offer a good service at a fair and reasonable price. Our goal is to have you come back the next time you need service or parts.
3. Only sell quality parts. When we bought Pruitt Office Machines they sold to some school systems on a bid. We received a few bids and we would have to buy the cheapest parts we could find and build them systems. After a short time they would start breaking (kids handling computers, scary). We would go fix them but the students and the teachers would see our name on the broken machines and not think that they got what they paid for. We decided to sell only good parts, with better warranties, in all our systems.
4. Speak the customer’s language. Computers can be so technical sometimes. I learned from the PC user group how to explain difficult items in ways that can be easily understood. I feel that we should teach first.
5. Spend time with customers. Even if they are only asking for advice, with no thought of buying.
6. Get the job done quickly. If you bring in a computer you want it back as soon as possible not when we feel like getting to it. (I have seen people without computers for weeks at different places) Computers are so much of our lives today that they are almost as important as your car.
7. Do a good job. We need to do it right the first time. If the customer got there computer back and it wasn’t fixed right we would fix it again at no additional charge. To many businesses charge you once for a problem, they take it home and the same problem is still there. They bring it back and the company charges them again. Excuse me but YOU SCREWED UP FIXING IT THE FIRST TIME? WHY SHOULD I PAY YOU TO DO IT RIGHT THE SECOND TIME?
8. Return all parts. This sounds strange but I had a friend who worked at a muffler shop (25years ago) and he was told to break things so he could sell more. He refused and got fired from there. I have also seen companies sell people new parts because their old parts were “bad” and then sell their old parts to someone else. We will ALWAYS return your parts.

These ideas are what Dawn and I decided to do and our business has grown because of it. While I am not working at Avanti I am also involved with a few other organization and groups. I am a 2 year member of the Chamber of Commerce Commodore program, active in a business networking group called North Alabama Business Connections, teach classes at Decatur Community Education for the last 6 (?) years and various other events.

My hobbies are bowling, computers, playing World of Warcraft (2 level 70 characters), movies, and music, my family, traveling and STEELERS FOOTBALL.